ILJIN SNT Co., Ltd. Announces Its Intention to Vote Against Aurinia Pharmaceuticals's Revised Equity Incentive Plan Proposal
ILJIN SNT Co., Ltd. Announces Its Intention to Vote Against Aurinia Pharmaceuticals's Revised Equity Incentive Plan Proposal
SEOUL, South Korea, June 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
2024年6月7日，韩国首尔/PRNewswire/--
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
亲爱的股东朋友们：
ILJIN SNT Co., Ltd. ("ILJIN") is a long-standing investor of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("Aurinia" or the "Company"), and, together with its affiliates, currently holds more than 5% of Aurinia's common stock.
ILJIN SNT有限公司("ILJIN")是Aurinia Pharmaceuticals股份有限公司("Aurinia")的长期投资者，与其关联公司持有Aurinia普通股的5%以上。ILJIN作为公司最大和历史最久的股东之一，ILJIN想分享其对公司发行过多的RSU给其高管和董事会成员的看法。毫无疑问，这违反了许多关心公司未来的Aurinia股东的意愿。Aurinia"或"公司与其关联公司一起，作为公司最大和历史最久的股东之一，ILJIN目前持有Aurinia普通股的5%以上。
As one of the Company's largest and longest-standing shareholders, ILJIN would like to share its views regarding the Company's issuance of excessive amounts of RSUs to its executives and Board members. No doubt this is against the wishes of many Aurinia shareholders concerned about the Company's future.
正如您所知，公司管理层最近修订了Proxy Statement/Circular的第4项"股权激励计划"，现在新增的"计划股份"数量从之前的1137.5万股减少到850万股。正如我们在先前致公司股东的信函中所指出的，ILJIN对公司的股权激励计划存在严重担忧。简而言之，对于ILJIN来说，股票奖励计划似乎并没有有效地作为激励计划发挥作用，反而充当了一种赠送股份的计划，使现有Aurinia股东的持股比例受到严重稀释，而董事会成员和公司高管则从中获利。
As you know, Company management recently revised its proposed amendment to the "Equity Incentive Plan" in Proposal 4 of the Proxy Statement/Circular, so now the number of new "Plan Shares" is reduced to 8,500,000 shares from the previous 11,375,000 shares. As we indicated in our previous letters to fellow shareholders, ILJIN has grave concerns about the Company's Equity Incentive Plan. In short, to ILJIN, the stock award plan does not appear to function effectively as an incentive plan -- but rather operates as a share give-away plan that enriches Board members and Company executives at the expense of substantial share dilution on the part of existing Aurinia shareholders.
公司在过去几年中授予了大量的RSU（与期权不同，这是股票发放而不需要收受者付出代价），并向其董事会成员和高管授予了大量的奖励。例如，公司在2022年至2024年期间向Peter Greenleaf先生总共授予了155万股RSU，RSU将于2023年至2027年期间完全归属。一旦RSU完全归属，Greenleaf先生将获得155万股Aurinia股票，而不需要达成任何其他业绩里程碑条件。考虑到免费股份数量的巨大，以及它们的归属期限一直持续到2027年，我们怀疑Greenleaf先生是否真的有真正的动力在2023年至2024年期间成功完成公司的战略审查。
The Company has been awarding a massive number of RSUs (which, unlike stock options, are stock grants with zero cost to the recipients) to its Board members and executives during the past several years. For example, the Company awarded Mr. Peter Greenleaf a total of 1,550,000 RSUs between 2022 and 2024, and the RSUs will be vesting fully during the period of 2023-2027. Once the RSUs are fully vested, Mr. Greenleaf will acquire 1.55 million Aurinia shares without the requirement that any additional performance milestones be met. Given the significant number of free shares involved, and vesting period running through 2027 we doubt whether Mr. Greenleaf had a genuine motivation to successfully conclude the Company's Strategic Review in 2023-2024.
此外，除了155万股的RSU授予，Greenleaf先生还将在绩效奖项的归属中获得额外的35万股。因此，Greenleaf先生在2023年至2027年期间可以获得高达1.9 million股的奖励。与此同时，虽然Greenleaf先生获得了大量的股权补偿，但公司股东在过去3年中目睹了超过50%的股东价值破坏。对于ILJIN来说，这些董事会成员和公司高管似乎是在利用公司的"股权激励计划"获得大量和过分的股权奖励，而不需要达到任何有效的绩效里程碑。零不用说，ILJIN认为"股权激励计划"的无效管理是由于董事会缺乏积极行使对管理层绩效的监督能力和意愿所致。ILJIN认为，这些董事会成员未能正确执行管理层的责任，同时也未能审慎地审批所有这些过高的股权激励计划，从而导致了实质性的股份稀释。董事会成员本应确保Peter Greenleaf和其他管理人员和董事会成员"赚取"这些股份，而不是"送给"他们。
On top of the aggregate 1.55 million RSU grant, Mr. Greenleaf is also set to receive an additional 350,000 shares upon the vesting of Performance Awards. As a result, Mr. Greenleaf may acquire up to a total of 1.9 million shares during the period of 2023-2027. Meanwhile, while Mr. Greenleaf receives substantial equity compensation, the Company's shareholders have witnessed a shareholder value destruction by more than 50% during the past 3 years. To ILJIN, these Board members and Company executives appear to have been using the Company's "Equity Incentive Plan" –to gain substantial and excessive equity awards without being required to meet any effective performance milestones.
因此，ILJIN将投反对票反对Proxy Statement/Circular中提议的或修正的公司补偿计划，并将撤回对Peter Greenleaf和某些其他董事会成员的支持。Greenleaf先生是赠予股权奖励最多的人之一。
Needless to say, ILJIN believes the ineffective administration of the "Equity Incentive Plan" is a result of the Board's lack of the ability and willingness to aggressively exercise oversight of management performance. ILJIN believes these Board members have failed to properly enforce management accountability while also they have been also rubber stamping all these exorbitant stock incentive plans to the detriment of significant share dilution. The Board members should have instead ensured that Peter Greenleaf and others in management and on the Board "earn" these shares.
ILJIN认为，必须向公司的管理层和董事会发出明确的信息，指出他们都必须改变，要对公司的管理表现以及担任高管和董事会成员的身份承担责任。否则，ILJIN认为，股票奖励在董事会没有任何有意义的监督下继续发放，股东价值的破坏可能继续。ILJIN打算通过投票传递这个信息。
For these reasons, ILJIN will vote against the Company's compensation plan as proposed or amended in the Proxy Statement/Circular, and will withhold support for Peter Greenleaf and certain other Board members.
因此，ILJIN将投反对票反对Proxy Statement/Circular中提议的或修正的公司补偿计划，并将撤回对Peter Greenleaf和某些其他董事会成员的支持。
ILJIN believes it is time to send an unequivocal message that the Company's management and Board must be changed, and that from now on, they all should be held accountable for their performance as the Company's executives and Board members. Otherwise, ILJIN believes the destruction of shareholder value may continue while stock awards continue to be granted without any meaningful oversight by the Board. ILJIN intends to send this message with its vote at the upcoming AGM.
ILJIN认为现在是向公司的管理层和董事会发出明确信息的时候了，这都必须改变。从现在开始，他们都应该对公司的管理表现以及担任高管和董事会成员的身份承担责任。否则，ILJIN认为，股东价值的破坏可能会继续下去，而董事会则继续批准所有这些股权激励计划，而这将严重稀释股权。ILJIN打算通过投票发出这个信息。
Sincerely,
KH Sung
CEO of ILJIN SNT Co., Ltd.
此致敬礼，
KH Sung
ILJIN SNT有限公司CEO
CONTACT: Yoonhwa Lee, [email protected]
联系人：Yoonhwa Lee，[email protected]
SOURCE ILJIN SNT Co., Ltd.
ILJIN SNT有限公司来源